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Abstract

Rear-end collisions make up about 25 percent of all automobile crashes, 27 percent of crashes resulting in injuries, and 5 percent of all fatal car crashes in the U.S. We believe that one factor in these crashes is that some people are less able to detect when they are closing in on another car, and that this ability can be measured. Thirty participants in three age groups participated in this study. Testing included the detection of size change (looming), estimation of change in looming, manual lateral tracking, synthetic tail-following, and low-fidelity driving. Participants' visual and cognitive abilities were also tested. Results indicated that the looming detection task possessed a respectable amount of retest reliability and yielded a measure that provided stable data after one session. The results further indicated that the loom tests showed minimal relationships with other temporal visual functions, indicating that looming detection is a separate function. Finally, a clear relationship between age and looming detection was shown, but neither gender nor handedness appeared to have an effect.

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Looming Detection Among Drivers of Different Ages

Abstract

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